I. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates generally to metal working devices, and more particularly, to a hand operated press for resizing used rifle bullet cases for reuse.
II. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that ammunition for rifles and the like can be rather expensive. Moreover, commercially available ammunition may not be as uniformly constructed or provided with the particular load desired by a discriminating marksman. As a result, it is desirable to reuse rifle cartridge cases by replacing the primer, and inserting the desired load and the projectile to the marksman's specifications. Of course, one of the problems of reusing the cases is that the case is deformed by expansion due to the explosion which has occured within the case. Accordingly, it is necessary to resize the case to proper dimensions before the case can be safely reused in a rifle.
Although, there are several previously known apparatus for reloading and resizing shotgun shells, such devices are unrelated to the needs of the rifle marksman. For example, shotgun shells can be resized only after they have been loaded since the load provides the support for the side wall of the shell. As a result, the function and structure of such devices differ substantially from rifle cartridge case resizing apparatus.
A disadvantage of previously known rifle case resizing devices is that once a case has been pressed into the die for reducing the case diameter to the appropriate dimension, the case must be removed from tight engagement within the die. Typically, the case has a head including a radially expanded flange or groove which is often defined by a groove at the end of the case. Thus, the head holder has an annular slot adapted to receive the flange of the head of the case and rigidly to support the case for movement into the die. Likewise, the head holder engages the flange for withdrawal of the case from the die. Unfortunately, the head length of the case is a critical dimension, and the application of a force necessary to dislodge the case from the die exerts a substantial amount of pressure against the flange which can deform the flange and thus alter the head length. Engagement of the head flange by a head holder is substantially the only manner used in the prior art to effectively apply sufficient force to the case in order to withdraw the case from tight engagement within the die of the press. As a result, the number of times the case can be resized and reloaded is substantially limited as a practical matter when the previously known resizing devices are used.